Dishonored. A game that received nothing but praise when it first hit stores in 2012. A brand new IP that seems to want to be a spiritual successor to the legendary THIEF series. So how is this game as a stealth game? How does it measure up as a spiritual successor? Well....if you like this game you may not like what I have to say.
First and foremost, is Dishonored a good stealth game? No. It is not. Every good stealth game relies on its player feedback system. The ability for the player to know the layout of enemies in a level, understand their patterns and adapt accordingly. Ex. Metal Gear Solid has a radar, Splinter Cell has infrared, THIEF has audio [you can hear enemies footsteps.]. Dishonored has no such system. The audio engine isn't powerful enough to let you hear your enemies footsteps, and the only way of reliably knowing your enemies location is one of two choices. A.) Being in a large open area and looking down on your enemies, or B.) Using the Dark Vision ability which is essentially x-ray vision, allowing you to see through walls, the level of noise your actions do [ironically enough you can't hear these noises]. The Dark Vision upgrade is the only actual way to know the layout of enemies though, but its so over-powered that with it, there is no reason you should ever be detected. Without the x-ray vision you'll never know where enemies are and since there is no alternative to detecting enemies, you'll get caught. A lot. Also, stealth is completely binary in this game. Either enemies have no idea you exist, or every single guard in the level knows where you are. And the way enemies detect you isn't very well done either. Light and dark have no impact on stealth whatsoever, there is no point in snuffing out candles since enemies can see you just as well as in dark as in light.
Gameplay wise, not counting stealth there are some fun aspects to it but those fun aspects come from utilizing the supernatural abilities you have in the game like teleporting, summoning ravenous hordes of rats, and launching tornadoes from your hands. There are two play styles for this game that results in different endings, playing non lethal, and playing lethal. Non lethal involves knocking people out, trying not to be detected whatsoever, and instead of killing your targets performing more creative ways of dispatching them. But the thing is, the lethal play through is much more fun since you have many fun methods of dispatching enemies. What sounds more fun to you? Teleporting behind cover more convenient than the waist high walls of debris in Gears of War to evade enemies, moving through large hollow areas to get to your target, or sneaking through an enemy, killing enemies, when detected summoning rats to devour those who saw you, and when the odds are overbearing possessing one of the summoned rats to escape the scene? I pick the second one.
Aside from gameplay though..... Dishonored for me holds the dubious distinction of having the most yawn inducing lore and story I've seen in a video game. There was not a single point where I was interested in what was going on in the story aside from two stand out locations in the entire game. And this is not helped by the fact that Dishonored's art style and graphics are downright ugly to look at. I'm not one to rate graphics in a game unless they're either extremely good or ugly as sin, so believe me when I say that Dishonored has the worst PS3-Xbox 360 era graphics you could ever see....even on a high end PC. In addition the brown grey blue, gloomy color scheme only adds to the feeling of boredom, again aside from two standout locations.
Overall, Dishonored to me seems like a game that deserves some praise as it can be fun at times, but that's when its more like an RPG action hybrid with some stealth elements rather than a fullblown stealth game. But aside from its fun gameplay, its story and lore is completely forgettable. A solid 2/4, a good rental and a good buy since its gone down in price, but if you're looking for a memorable stealth experience, look elsewhere.
2/4
Red Vulture Out
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